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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27718448">Pacifist, Run!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyneAnon/pseuds/ShyneAnon'>ShyneAnon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dimension Travel, F/M, Metafiction, No AUs though, Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader-Insert, To be clear the SansxReader is a B plot, meta even for undertale I mean, reader is female, sorry bout that, this isn't a romance story - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:19:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,758</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27718448</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyneAnon/pseuds/ShyneAnon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dimension-hopping is usually a good time. Until a freak accident happens and you get tossed into a random dimension against your will, and you're unable to get back on your own. Undertale. You've... vaguely heard of it, but you don't know anything about it.</p><p>Thankfully, your handy PDA has instructions for building an artificial gateway back home. Now you just need to keep your abilities on the DL and begin building the device in secret. Well, that and hope that nothing in this dimension happens to go very, very wrong.</p><p>=)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sans (Undertale)/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Howdy!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi! It's been a long while since I posted fanfic. I stated this in the note for my other fanfic, but if you haven't read it... I've been using this multiverse concept to write fanfiction for years, but I've never actually posted any of those fanfics anywhere. So, I'm hoping you all will enjoy it.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Welcome to Undertale!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You didn’t even register what was happening until you hit the ground on your side. Hard.</p><p>“Ow!” you hissed before sitting up. You rubbed your forehead and your eyes, and when you opened said eyes to begin rubbing any dirt off your clothes, you realized that you were not where you had been two seconds ago.</p><p>You were sitting… on a mountaintop? No, not quite the top. But very high up. The view was actually incredible: A stretch of miles of forest, and off in the distance, a massive city. You would’ve taken it all in and savored it… had you not been too busy wondering where the hell you were. You looked around. You didn’t recognize this place.</p><p>Surely… Surely you hadn’t…</p><p>“Shit,” you muttered, pulling out the cold, grey cylinder that was your PDA. Turning it on activated a mixture of a hologram and a touch screen. It seemed to be working fine. You had it scan your surroundings, and thankfully, it gave you a reading:</p><p><em>Undertale</em>, 2015.</p><p>You didn’t recognize the name, so you started to read its description:</p><p>Undertale<em> is a role-playing video game created by independent developer </em></p><p>
  <em> Toby Fox and released in 2015, marketed as “the friendly rpg where nobody has to die!” There are multiple endings to the game’s story; check the dimension’s </em>
</p><p>
  <em> number and compare it to the chart below to see which of the game’s endings you </em>
</p><p>
  <em> are in. This is very important. </em>
</p><p>You made to read the rest only to find that it was all messed up. The screen glitched, the letters were replaced with symbols… so it looked like you weren’t going to know what the endings to this game even were, much less which one you were in. But PDAs didn’t just lose their connection to the multiverse’s database like this. If your PDA was disconnecting, that could only mean one thing: You had been sent here by chance, and couldn’t simply open a gateway to get back home.</p><p>Dimension-hoppers like you could easily open portals to and from different dimensions. But freak accidents were known to happen. The humans (although you hesitated to call yourself quite human) who were blessed with this ability were also susceptible to strange shifts in the space-time continuum, which would, on rare occasions, catapult them to a seemingly random dimension and trap them there until they could build an artificial gateway to get home. Thankfully, because of this, PDAs came with blueprints for an artificial gateway pre-installed in them. A lot of dimension-hoppers-- like yourself-- weren’t engineers, so you were going to need the blueprints that were on your device. But you could worry about that once you found civilization. You deactivated your PDA and tucked it back into its holster around your waist. You stood up, and started to brush the dirt off your pants. Ugh.</p><p>“Howdy!”</p><p>You looked around, alarmed, but you couldn’t see anyone. Did people have superpowers here? Was some little asshole turning themselves invisible to mess with you?</p><p>“Down here, you goof!”</p><p>Seriously, where was that voice coming from? Behind you, you knew that. You looked over, and then looked down, but all you could see was a bed of yellow flowers-- Wait.</p><p>Was that one smiling at you?</p><p>You sort of… stared. You’d seen weirder things than talking flowers with faces, but you weren’t sure how to respond, especially after realizing that you didn’t know where you were. Eventually you just said, “Oh. Hi.”</p><p>“Nice to meet you!”</p><p>A vine slithered out of the ground and reached out to you. Like a handshake? You took it, and shook.</p><p>The flower winked. “My name is Flowey. Flowey the flower!”</p><p>Low-effort name, but OK. “Hi, Flowey. My name is (y/n).” You looked around. Should you ask where you were?</p><p>As if he-- it had a male voice-- knew what you were thinking, he said, “Whatcha doin’ all the way up here on Mount Ebott? Wanted to see where the monsters came from? Cuz you found it!”</p><p>The monsters? So there were lots of different sapients here, not just humans. “Um, yeah. But I should… probably get going now. The… monsters are friendly, right?” The world looked way too peaceful for some sort of dystopian setting that had been overrun by beasts.</p><p>“Depends on who you ask, I guess. But I’d say yes!”</p><p>You’d take Flowey’s word for it. “So, um… I’m sorry, I hit my head, so I’m a little out of it. What… happened exactly?”</p><p>Flowey smiled, but it was mildly unsettling. Not scary. Just… oddly knowing, for someone of his size and demeanor. After a moment, he spoke:</p><p>“You’re not from around here, are you?”</p><p>Was he implying another dimension? “What do you mean?”</p><p>He seemed to rethink, tapping what would be his chin with the vine that had sprouted from the ground to shake your hand. “Maybe not. Otherwise you’d recognize me.” His smile returned. “You’re funny, though. I can sort of… feel it.”</p><p>This guy was starting to give off weird vibes. But he wasn’t really scary-- yet. “I’m not sure what you--”</p><p>“What’s that thing?” he asked, his smile returning. His vine pointed at the PDA holstered around your waist. “I saw you using it. It looks real fancy!”</p><p>Shit, he saw that? Well, it probably was easy for him to spy on people. “Oh, it’s just… a thing I got a long time ago.” You weren’t lying. They were standard-issue for dimension-hoppers.</p><p>“What’s it do?”</p><p>Why was he asking so many questions? “Uh, it does a lot of stuff. Mostly just helps me look stuff up. Like a tablet. No big deal.”</p><p>“Where’d ya get it?”</p><p>OK, no more. You didn’t need to go around telling people you could just travel between dimensions, especially since you couldn’t prove it as long as you were stuck here. You’d end up in a mental hospital or something. “A place. I’m just… gonna go now.” You hoped he was rooted to that spot; that way you could find some place to jump off and use your wings to avoid certain death. Wings, which were invisible when not in use-- the trait that really made you wonder if dimension-hoppers were human. So you turned your back to Flowey and began to walk away. He said nothing. So finally, he’d gotten the message.</p><p>Something wrapped around your ankle and pulled your foot out from under you.</p><p>You slipped and fell face-first onto the ground. “Ow!” you said for the second time that day. You turned and, as you’d suspected, it was Flowey’s vine. It was quickly followed by a second vine that trapped your other heel. You did your best to try and pull yourself away, but the grip of these vines was like steel. “Hey! What the hell?”</p><p>You started to lift yourself onto your knees but were quickly stopped by two vines that grabbed your hands. You were stuck hunched over on your knees now.</p><p>Something slithered up from the ground right in front of you; it was Flowey again, this time wearing one of the most horrifying facial expressions you’d ever seen. And you’d seen a lot of creepy facial expressions. He looked like he had rows of sharp teeth, and his small black eyes had expanded to take up much more of his face. Now it felt more like he was looking into your soul.</p><p>He gave a small giggle. “Where do you think you’re going?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” you managed. You were having a hard time looking at anything but his creepy eyes. <em>What the actual fuck? What kind of place </em>is<em> this?</em></p><p>“I’m here to make a first impression!” He cocked his head, his face returning to… as normal as it could be. “That’s always been my job, I guess. Giving a good first impression.”</p><p>He wasn’t doing a very good job of it.</p><p>“‘Look, it’s Flowey! He seems so nice! Why don’t I do what he says? Oh no, nevermind! He’s actually really evil!’” He rolled his eyes. Wait, was he ranting now? “It’s the same thing every time.”</p><p>He leaned down closer to you, wearing another creepy look on his face.</p><p>“Y’know, quite frankly, I’m getting sick of the monotony. Don’t you just hate monotony?”</p><p>Agreeing with him was probably the best way to avoid anything worse happening to you right now. “Um… yeah, monotony sucks.” It wasn’t really a lie, you didn’t like being bored either.</p><p>Again, the scary face gave way to something relatively normal. “I’ve been sitting on this mountaintop for so long. I honestly ought to go say hi to everybody in Ebott City! I’d probably be less bored now that everything’s over.” His petals drooped a bit. “For now.”</p><p>
  <em>The fuck is this guy on about? I just wanna get someplace where I can go home.</em>
</p><p>“Then again, I’m always happy to say hi to Players! If you’re a Player, anyway.”</p><p>You felt another vine… grab your PDA.</p><p>
  <em>Wait, no.</em>
</p><p>Flowey pulled the vine to himself. Yep, he had your PDA. That thing had your only means of getting back home! He started to shake it. “So what,” he said, “is this like a controller?” He activated it. “Oh boy, this thing is real user-friendly, isn’t it?</p><p>Yet another vine appeared and started tapping at the holograms. “Give that back,” you insisted. “It’s not a toy. You’ll break it.” And if he broke it, you might be stuck here forever. No one would ever know what had happened to you.</p><p>“Then what is it?” He kept tapping at the buttons.</p><p>“I told you, it’s to help me look up stuff when I don’t know where I am--”</p><p>There was a humming noise as the PDA scanned him. “Huh?... Oh boy! It’s me!”</p><p><em>Ugh…</em> The PDA had probably pulled up a file in the database on him. Now he was becoming more annoying than scary.</p><p>“Flowey is the main an...tagonist, hey, what the heck?” He shook the PDA, glaring. “You’re not supposed to tell them that! Why are there spoilers in this thing?”</p><p>He clearly thought the PDA was something else, but you weren’t sure what.</p><p>Once he was done being frustrated, he kept reading. “Ooh, look at this. Haha! Flowery. That’s funny.” As he kept skimming it, his smile suddenly dropped and he froze. He looked a lot less threatening now that he looked unsettled. The text was a bit small, and he kept scrolling, and it was backwards from your point of view, so you couldn’t tell what he was looking at. It looked like most of the page was messed up, though, just like the file on Undertale.</p><p>He gritted his teeth (wait, he had actual teeth?) and then clutched the PDA to himself possessively.</p><p>“I’m keeping this.”</p><p>OK, you had to reason with him on this. “OK, look, Flowey, I dunno what your deal is, but--”</p><p>“Shut up, I’m keeping it.”</p><p>“I can’t get home without that thing!”</p><p>He paused, looking back at the PDA.</p><p>“Look, if you don’t want me to look at your file, that’s fine, I don’t need to. But that thing has my instructions on how to get home. I don’t know how to otherwise.”</p><p>He kept looking back and forth between you and the PDA.</p><p>“Please, Flowey. If I can’t get back home I’ll never see my family or friends--”</p><p>“Shut up!” He set it down, looking away so that his face was covered by his petals. “You can have your stupid manual back.”</p><p>He turned back to you with completely empty eyes, and leaned in close again.</p><p>“But I’m not an idiot. I don’t know <em>who</em> or <em>what</em> you are, but I will be watching you. And if I find out that you looked in my file, or that you can<em> ruin everything</em>, I will <strong>end</strong> <strong>you</strong>.”</p><p>You nodded vigorously. “Got it. No looking in your file and no ruining things.”</p><p>All of his vines released you and you immediately sat up, grabbing your PDA and deactivating it. The vines snaked back into the earth.</p><p>Flowey smiled. “Bye bye now!”</p><p>He promptly retreated into the ground, almost like he’d gotten sucked underneath. So he could move around? You had almost no doubt that you’d see him again. You cursed under your breath as you rubbed your wrists. Well, at least you’d gotten away from him this time. </p><p>Now that that was over, you decided that the best course of action was to go ahead and get away from this mountain, somewhere where Flowey couldn’t catch up to you or easily predict your exact destination.</p><p>That being the air.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Friends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You make some friends(?).</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>So after checking to make sure your PDA was in your holster, you jumped off the side of the mountain. You didn’t actually jump off of high places often, so the feeling of the lack of solid ground supporting you, and that of the air rushing by you, made you nervous. What if you couldn’t catch yourself in time?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You went ahead and spread your wings; it might be best if you glided down anyways, instead of landing and then having to walk the rest of the way. Once you weren’t in the middle of a nosedive, and you were able to take in the view more clearly, you were able to appreciate the way the sunlight glinted off the buildings in the distance. You could see a long highway leading into the city from here; you steered clear of it, not wanting people to see a flying human above them. You would land when you were just outside the city.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You were surprised when you saw how far you could go just by gliding. You only needed to flap your wings a few times throughout your trip to the suburbs. You dropped lower the closer you got before landing yourself at the edge of the woods, retracting your wings to make them invisible again. And after a short walk, you arrived in a neighborhood. A quaint, clean neighborhood with nice, cozy houses. You would have mistaken this dimension for a setting that mirrored your own, were it not for the small nonhumans that were playing in their yards-- and the larger ones that watched over or played with them. You weren’t intimidated; you’d seen plenty of nonhumans before, and if these were living in the suburbs alongside humans, they were perfectly safe. You were more worried about how you’d get to the city, and about the muscles on your back that were aching from your flight.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Human.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You froze in your tracks when you heard a voice from directly behind you. You couldn’t tell if it sounded friendly or not. Had the owner of this voice been following you? For how long?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you know how to greet a new pal?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You gulped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Turn around, and shake my hand.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You turned your head hesitantly to see a figure that was shadowed by some nearby trees. It was short, but the only detail you could see were two pinpricks of white light. The figure had their hand held out to you. The fingers were strangely thin… almost bonelike. OK, well… you were right near a neighborhood. This stranger was small. Surely… you would be fine. So you reached out, and, as requested, took his hand, which felt just as bony as it looked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was a very long farting sound.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The stranger started to snicker. He let go of your hand and dangled something that had been in his palm. A whoopie cushion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” he said, “couldn’t resist.” He stepped out of the shadows and you got an actual look at him. A skeleton. That explained the hands. He was short and… was stout the right word? He wasn’t fat (could skeletons even get fat?). Just stocky in his build. Like the rest of the neighborhood residents, he was wearing fairly modern, everyday clothing. A blue hoodie, some basketball shorts, slippers on his feet for… some reason. You could now see that the small lights were actually hovering in his eye sockets, probably meant to serve as pupils. His mouth was set in a grin-- but maybe that was always the case, he was a skeleton. He nudged you. “You look like I really freaked you out. Not a fan of skeletons?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh, no, that wasn’t it. “No, you just kind of--”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m kidding, I know I snuck up on you.” He looked around. “You new to the neighborhood?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um.” Obviously not, and depending on how friendly he was, he could ask to see your house. Lying was probably not a good idea. “Not really. I’m actually kind of lost.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He raised a brow, though he was still smiling. “Lost?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” You knew it sounded weird, but you hadn’t thought up a lie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Welp. If that’s all you’re gonna tell me… I’m Sans. Sans the skeleton.” He winked. “Though you… probably already figured out that second bit.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A smile crept onto your face. It was hard not to smile when this guy seemed so cheerful. “Hi, Sans. I’m (y/n).”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, (y/n), if my brother found out I saw someone who was lost and just left them, he’d be disappointed. So it looks like I’m gonna have to help you.” A shrug. “Sorry about that, but I have no choice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Your smile grew. This guy's goofiness was a nice stress-reliever.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“C’mon, follow me. My friends are nice people, they’ll be happy to help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He started to lead you down the sidewalk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So where are you from?” he asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh. “Um. I’m from kinda far away.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All Sans did was turn his head; he was still smiling, but his gaze looked a little skeptical. He said nothing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully, you remembered something Flowey had mentioned. “Am I… close to Ebott City?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That seemed to assuage him. “Oh, yeah. These are the suburbs outside it. Why, you headed there?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m… I guess I’m not really headed anywhere in particular right now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“... Huh.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully, you arrived at a house before the conversation could get even more awkward. This one was quite a bit bigger than the ones you’d seen as you’d entered the neighborhood. Sans gestured to it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, I… live with several other people. My brother, my friend Tori, and her kid.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh. “And,” you said, “you’re sure they won’t be bothered by having to help me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m sure. Trust me, they’re… the best people I know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He headed up to the door and you followed. For a second, you were confused when he pulled out a key-- but, of course he had one, he lived here.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Wait a second, what was </span>
  </em>
  <span>he</span>
  <em>
    <span> doing in the woods?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You shrugged it off. He’d probably just been taking a walk. So when he turned and nodded his head at the house, you followed. There was… probably a chance he was actually a serial killer, especially if everyone here turned out to be like Flowey, but you couldn’t wait forever for someone to help you. This was your opportunity, so you were going to take it. Besides, you were trained with a weapon, and he didn’t know that, so if he did try anything you had the element of surprise.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The first thing you noticed was a very sweet smell coming from the direction of what you assumed was the kitchen. Sans closed the door with his foot. “Hey,” he called. “I’m back. And I made a friend.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was a sudden yell: “A FRIEND?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You jumped as a tall figure practically burst into the foyer. Sans didn’t so much as blink, just stayed in place with a more idle, smug smile. Once your brain could take in the figure, you realized it was another skeleton, just with a drastically different body type than Sans’. Taller, with a broad chest (ribcage?), but the rest of him seemed lanky-- which made sense, considering he didn’t have any flesh on him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A HUMAN!” he exclaimed before running over to you and holding out a gloved hand. When you took it, he shook your hand so hard it almost hurt your shoulder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sans intervened: “Hey Paps, relax, you’re gonna dislocate her arm or something.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“OH!” He let go of your arm. “IT IS VERY NICE TO MEET YOU, HUMAN! I AM--” He stood up, puffing out his… ribcage… and put a hand on it, as if he were posing for a movie poster. “-- THE GREAT PAPYRUS! MASCOT OF MONSTERKIND, AND SANS’ BROTHER.” He dropped his pose and asked, “WHAT IS YOUR NAME, HUMAN?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“(Y/n),” you told him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“WOWIE! WHAT A GREAT NAME!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You had the feeling he probably said that in response to everyone’s name. You smiled again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ARE YOU NEW TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD?” His smile was replaced with one of shock. “OH NO! I USUALLY KNOW WHEN SOMEONE HAS MOVED IN! I’M SORRY FOR NOT HAVING HOUSEWARMING GIFTS!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sans reassured him with a wave of his arm. “Actually, she said she’s lost.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Papyrus didn’t question it the way Sans had. “OH! YOU ARE IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You were a bit reluctant about asking for help, so you began, “Well, I--”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“DO NOT WORRY, HUMAN! YOU CAN STAY HERE FOR AS LONG AS YOU LIKE!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p><em><span>What?</span></em> <em><span>Stay?</span></em><span> “You don’t have to--”</span></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Too late,” said Sans, shaking his head in mock disappointment. “Paps never goes back on his offers. Guess you’re gonna have to accept his help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Papyrus furrowed his brow (despite the fact that he had no muscles), but he was still beaming. "YES! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL NEVER NOT HELP SOMEONE IN NEED!" He let out a funny laugh: "NYEH HEH HEH!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A soft, female voice called out: “What is all that noise? Papyrus, you’d better not have broken anything when you ran to the foyer.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Papyrus shook his head. “DO NOT WORRY, TORIEL! I DIDN’T!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Toriel. Probably the </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Tori”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Sans had referred to earlier.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sans confirmed when he said, “Hey Tori, how do you feel about having a guest over?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A woman exited the kitchen. Well, a nonhuman woman. She looked sort of like a fluffy, anthropomorphic goat. She glanced between the two skeletons, then noticed you. “Oh! Oh, Sans, did you make a friend?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep,” Sans said with a shrug, though you weren’t sure if he actually considered you a friend.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She smiled. “Oh, that’s good.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“YES!” Papyrus said. “MY BROTHER DOES NOT MAKE FRIENDS OFTEN ENOUGH!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You shrugged. “I mean, I know the feeling.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Toriel smiled. “You are very welcome to stay here.” To Sans: “How long is she staying?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sans shrugged. “Well, she says she’s lost, so… Until she can figure out how to get home, I guess.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The way he worded it felt unsettling. You hadn’t told him you were looking for a way home. Giving him a glance, you realized that he was looking at you through the corner of his sockets. That grin was still on his face. You smiled as innocently as possible.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nobody else seemed to find it odd. “Well,” said Toriel, “show her to a guest room, then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You continued to thank them as they helped you to a room and got you settled in. Eventually Papyrus got you to quit thanking them so profusely (“YOU ARE SO POLITE! BUT IT IS UNNECESSARY!”). Honestly, he was the one who gave you most of the help. Sans seemed like he was putting in minimal effort, though it didn’t seem like it was out of spite.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“YOU SHOULD HAVE SOME TIME TO REST!” Papyrus said, giving you a pat on the head. “YOU LOOK VERY TIRED!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Only when he said it did you realize how much your muscles actually ached. “I… am. Thank you, Papyrus.” You then realized something, and turned to Sans. “Hey. You said Toriel had a child?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sans nodded. “Yeah. Frisk. They’re at a friend’s house.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“THEY MAKE SO MANY FRIENDS!” said Papyrus.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If there was one thing you missed about childhood, it was how much less complicated making friends had been.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“BUT I SUPPOSE IT’S NO WONDER, CONSIDERING THEY FREED ALL OF US THROUGH THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Huh?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” you asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“FRISK IS THE ONE WHO RESCUED ALL OF THE MONSTERS FROM THE UNDERGROUND! YOU KNOW! THE AMBASSADOR!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Uh oh. Now you didn’t know what they were talking about. “Oh,” you said. “Yeah. Wow, they did that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“THEY DID!” Papyrus seemed oblivious; Sans, not so much. He’d been eyeing you suspiciously ever since you’d gotten inside. Toriel hadn’t seemed to find anything you said particularly strange, either. Or at least, not enough that she didn’t trust you. Sans seemed different. You couldn’t help but wonder if he was anything like Flowey.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hopefully he at least wasn’t aiming to scare the hell out of you.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To your surprise, he seemed relaxed when he spoke. “We’ll let Paps tell you the whole story at dinner. But for now, you should rest.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“YES!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sans turned to his brother. “Hey, Paps.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“YES, SANS?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sans gave him a wink. “I dunno about you, but I think she’s going tibia great guest.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wait-- You gave a snort and started to laugh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Papyrus’ reaction was not so amused. “THEY JUST </span>
  <em>
    <span>GOT</span>
  </em>
  <span> HERE, SANS!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She likes it.” He pointed at you. You were trying to stifle your laughter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“NO, PLEASE! I ALREADY LIVE WITH TWO!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You laughed. “If it makes you feel better, I’m not the best at telling jokes, so I usually don’t.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“GOOD!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” said Sans, “let’s leave them alone.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two of them left, and you immediately went over to lock the door-- you weren’t sure that Papyrus would knock before coming in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was time to see about those blueprints.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>We all love Papyrus.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Secrecy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You learn some more about the machine you'll be building. Papyrus tells you about the power of friendship, and you and Sans have a talk.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>You turned on your PDA and it made a soft chime. For a second, you felt a pang of alarm, but it was so quiet that someone would have to be purposefully listening to you right outside. And it was likely that they would assume it was your phone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That said, you still turned the volume down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Flowey’s file was still open, and you immediately closed it. You knew he could move around, and that someone as small and inconspicuous as him could easily watch anyone. For a moment you felt the hair on the back of your neck stand up, and you glanced at the window. No one there-- assuming they hadn’t ducked out of the way just in time. As small as Flowey was, you had the feeling he could somehow follow up on his threat, so you didn’t feel like pissing him off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The same could be said for Sans. Something was obviously up with him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But you didn’t need to try to connect to the database at all right now. The blueprint would be installed in the PDA. So you went to the menu and began poking around. Thankfully, Flowey’s observation about the device being user-friendly was true (regardless of how sassy he’d been when he’d said it), so you found it rather easily. The blueprints for an artificial gateway. You tapped on the file and it opened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh, how fancy. A 3D hologram. You could even take it apart to view certain components of the machine, learn their names, and see brief, non-sciencey descriptions of what they did. You also found that along with the blueprint itself, there was a set of instructions for building one. Could this sort of thing be dangerous in the wrong hands? You supposed not really, since anyone who owned a PDA with these instructions could usually open a gateway anywhere they wanted anyway. And building gateways for reasons other than your own was illegal.  You really had to appreciate the effort the scientists at Headquarters had gone through to make sure that everyday people could use these blueprints. The instructions were simply worded and usually had casual definitions of technical terms in parentheses. Perhaps they’d had the application reviewed by non-scientists beforehand. That would make sense.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then again, Headquarters had been around for a very, very long time. By now they’d probably had at least dozens of chances to get it right.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was also a list of the materials needed. Crap, that was going to have to be your first step. Gathering materials. At least you weren’t stuck in the Cretaceous period, or the middle of the jungle, or the Dark Ages. The thought sent a shiver down your spine. Had… perhaps some dimension-hoppers gotten thrown into places like that and never found a way back? Well, most places had artificial gateways installed in them. This one didn’t seem to, based on the way the characters behaved (and especially how suspicious Sans was of you). Which didn’t make any sense, now that you thought about it. How could this place have an entry in the multiverse’s database, but not have an artificial gateway?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You probably needed to worry about this later. For now, you needed to sleep. So you shut down your PDA and headed over to your bed, lying down and closing your eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But not before tucking the grey cylinder of your PDA under your pillow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just in case.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>When you woke up, there was no more light coming through your window. How long had you been sleeping? Probably a while. You sat up, grabbing your PDA and putting it back in its holster. You would keep this thing on you at all times; you couldn’t afford to lose it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When you left your room, you found that most lights in the house were still on. So it wasn’t the middle of the night. You could hear voices coming from the kitchen, so you headed for it, hoping you weren’t about to intrude on a private conversation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What you found were the three characters you’d met earlier sitting at a table. They were accompanied by a child you could easily guess was the kid Sans had mentioned. Their conversation seemed more casual, and idle, even if Papyrus still had no concept of an indoor voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“... DON’T NEED THE ROYAL GUARD ANYMORE, BUT THAT I AM THE BEST MASCOT!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Toriel smiled as she poured some wine into a glass. “And when exactly do we get to meet him?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… I’M WORKING ON THAT! HE’S SHY!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The child was the first one to notice you, and when they turned to look at you and smiled, the others followed their gaze.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh!” said Toriel. “It’s you.” She smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry we didn’t wake you up for dinner. There was just… no noise coming from your room, and we thought it might be better if you got as much sleep as possible.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh.</span>
  </em>
  <span> “Oh,” you said. “Oh, thanks.” That was actually really nice of them. You felt a lot better now that you were rested.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I saved leftovers for you, though. And!” She gestured to the kid. “This is Frisk! Frisk, this is (y/n)!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You smiled. “Hey, Frisk. Nice to meet you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They waved, still smiling.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re not much of a talker,” Sans said, still smiling.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Papyrus nodded. “YES! IF FRISK SPEAKS, THAT MEANS IT’S IMPORTANT!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Or it’s a bad pun for me and Sans,” Toriel said smugly as she took a sip of her wine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“THAT’S... TRUE.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Frisk snickered, though it seemed good-natured. They then patted the seat next to them. Wow, it was… really nice how these people were just welcoming you into their home.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Unless this was like a tiny cult or something. You shouldn’t be suspicious, you knew that, but after what had happened with Flowey you were a bit wary.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I HAVEN’T TOLD YOU ABOUT FLOWERY!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Your head snapped to look at him. “Flowery?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“YES! FLOWERY!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s Paps’ best friend,” said Sans.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“DON’T BE RIDICULOUS, SANS. YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND, BECAUSE YOU ARE MY BROTHER, AND I LOVE YOU! ALL OF MY OTHER FRIENDS ARE EQUAL!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Alright, that was kind of adorable. But you had bigger things to worry about right now. “Who’s Flowery?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A talking flower,” Toriel said, her voice riddled with amusement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Papyrus seemed to notice her tone of voice as well, because he didn’t look pleased. “HE’S REAL! FRISK BELIEVES ME! RIGHT, FRISK?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Frisk nodded, smiling. Well… Frisk was a kid. Kids would believe anything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As if hoping he could convince you of the talking flower’s existence, he turned squarely to you and continued. “I’VE KNOWN HIM SINCE WE WERE IN THE UNDERGROUND. HE’S ALWAYS SO NICE AND SUPPORTIVE, JUST LIKE ALL GOOD FRIENDS!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You remembered what Flowey had said on the mountain, about you being </span>
  <em>
    <span>“where the monsters came from.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Was that the Underground? Or, the exit to the Underground? It would make sense if the Underground was literally underground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can lots of flowers talk?” you asked, although you had the feeling you knew the answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“WELL… NO, NOT REALLY. IT’S JUST FLOWERY! BUT HE REALLY IS REAL! HE’S JUST VERY SHY, IS ALL.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Assuming Flowery was Flowey-- which it probably was-- “shy” did not seem like an accurate descriptor for him. “Well I hope you can convince him to meet us sometime. He sounds nice.” Nice was not an accurate descriptor either. If Flowey was actually talking to Papyrus, and this wasn’t just some sort of coincidence, the niceness was undoubtedly a ruse. From what you’d seen so far, Papyrus didn’t seem like… the brightest. Flowey could be using him for something, right? Was he planning something? Had that been the thing he’d been concerned about you ruining? You hoped Papyrus wasn’t a pawn in some sort of evil scheme. The story was over, but it was common for villains who didn’t die to go rogue once the outcomes of their battles were no longer dictated by their creator.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sans was smart, though, right? He’d be suspicious. You looked over at him to see that he looked like he was falling asleep, still with that grin on his face. So either he wasn’t suspicious, or he was pretending not to be. You didn’t see any reason why he would pretend, though, so you tried to put your own paranoia aside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Apparently while you were talking with Papyrus, Toriel had gone and grabbed the leftovers from earlier, because you heard the beeping of the microwave as it went off. She removed a plate from inside, and you saw that it had spaghetti on it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” you said, “thank you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re very welcome,” she said as she headed over and set it down in front of you.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You heard a mumble from Sans. “Today was Paps’ first time trying spaghetti.” He was really drifting off now. Maybe he had smelled the pasta.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“YES!” said Papyrus. “MRS. TORIEL’S PASTA WAS VERY GOOD! ALMOST AS GOOD AS MINE!” He let out a funny laugh: “NYEH HEH HEH!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The yelling didn’t wake Sans up, but when Papyrus noticed that Sans was beginning to sink down in his seat, he yelled, “SANS, DO NOT FALL ASLEEP AT THE TABLE AGAIN!” That got Sans to blink awake and right himself in his chair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He smiled at you and gave you a wink. “Little bro’s always looking out for me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wait, Papyrus was the </span>
  <em>
    <span>younger</span>
  </em>
  <span> brother? The surprise must’ve shown on your face, because Sans’ grin widened. It looked pretty genuine. Sometimes the smile looked… not right, like it was plastered on, but right now it looked real.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You took a bite of your spaghetti and you felt your own face light up. “Oh my gosh,” you said through a full mouth, “this is so good!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Toriel seemed flattered. “Thank you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tori’s cooking is the best,” Sans said before adding, “Besides Paps’ cooking, of course.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course. That goes without saying.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Was Papyrus blushing? “OH! I KNOW, BUT THANK YOU!” He gasped, then turned to you. “I KNOW! I CAN MAKE SPAGHETTI TOMORROW, AND YOU CAN TRY IT!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sure,” you said before realizing that everyone else in the room was shooting you concerned looks. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Uh oh.</span>
  </em>
  <span> What had you just agreed to?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully, you remembered something. “Oh, hey! You said Frisk saved everyone with the power of friendship, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“OH YES! LET ME TELL YOU!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Papyrus proceeded to tell a lengthy story, with Frisk nodding every now and then to confirm what he was saying (although occasionally they would toss in a hesitant look and a slight wiggle of their hand, as if to say </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Eh, so-so.”</span>
  </em>
  <span>) Apparently Frisk had fallen into Mount Ebott by accident, and the following story was… bizarre. Papyrus had tried to capture them? But they’d become friends instead. Actually, there had been little exaggeration when Papyrus had described the whole “power of friendship” thing. Frisk had apparently befriended literally everyone despite the fact that a good chunk of the monsters were originally aiming to kill them to obtain their soul. Souls seemed to be physical here? You didn’t quite understand it, but you couldn’t ask. It seemed to be common knowledge.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“... AND THEN, FLOWERY SHOWED UP--”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We saw a flower,” interrupted Toriel.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“IT WAS FLOWERY! AND THEN… I DON’T REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“None of us remember what happened,” clarified Toriel. “Suddenly the barrier was broken and we were able to leave for the surface.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even Frisk didn’t remember? You instinctively looked over at them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Kiddo won’t spill,” said Sans. “But hey, they have the right to secrecy. We all do.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Was he hinting at something? No, it had sounded too offhand for that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually Frisk was sent to bed, and you insisted you wash your dishes. Everyone but Papyrus looked sleepy, so Toriel gave you a thanks and went to bed herself, as did Sans. Papyrus left to do chores. You ended up washing more than just your dishes; Toriel had left some of what she’d used to make the pasta in the sink, so you got all of that too. It was the least you could do to thank everyone here.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, thanks.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You started at Sans’ voice and turned to find that he was standing right next to you. How the hell had he done that? You hadn’t heard a thing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” he said, “I spooked you again, didn’t I?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Y… Yeah. You’re really quiet.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not when I’m in the middle of a comedy routine,” he said with a smile. It was funny, he still looked sleepy; his eyelids (did he have eyelids?) were kind of droopy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You smiled back. “I’d like to hear one of those sometime.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh boy, don’t tempt me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was too bad Sans seemed so wary about you, he seemed fun. “Need something?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow, trying to get rid of me as fast as possible, huh?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No!” you said, but you were smiling. “I’m just trying to see how I could help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re already helping more than I do around here,” he said, and your smile faded a bit. He sounded kind of depressed. But he moved on quickly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just wanted to talk about Paps’ imaginary friend.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Hmm.</span>
  </em>
  <span> “Flowery?” you asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. That guy.” He glanced in the direction of their bedrooms. “Listen, I’m not sure that he’s… not real. I just think someone’s messing with him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How so?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“An echo flower, probably. Paps is really cool, but he can be gullible. An echo flower would fool him pretty easily.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Aw. He thinks his brother is cool.</span>
  </em>
  <span> But the flower thing was confusing. You weren’t sure what to say, so you just said, “Oh, yeah. I didn’t think of that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sans’ grin started to look strained.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t know what an echo flower is,” he said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>OK, there was no point in lying and saying you did. So you came up with an excuse. “No, I don’t. I just… don’t want to look stupid.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The grin relaxed a little. “Echo flowers repeat the last thing they heard over and over. It’d just… be appreciated if you kept a lookout for talking flowers. They’re blue, if that helps.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Flowey wasn’t blue, but even if he was, he definitely wasn’t an echo flower. “I’ll be sure to do that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He nudged you.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’d also be nice if you stopped lying to me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You felt your whole body tense up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You managed, “Is it that obvious?” but it came out incredibly quiet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nah, don’t worry. The others definitely don’t know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Then how do you?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t have to tell me the truth, just plead the fifth, y’know? I stand by my statement: Everyone has the right to secrecy.” Another nudge. “Night, buddy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You watched as he shambled away, heading for bed. The whole conversation had been mildly unsettling, but you noticed another detail as he left:</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You could hear the shuffling of his feet very clearly as he left the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sans can be real creepy sometimes.</p><p>This may not be the most popular of my fics but I'm glad people enjoy it, because I love writing it. I hope you guys continue to like it!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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